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Basic Rifle Accuracy

A really good and useful article that makes pretty good sense to me. Worth reading and understanding so that it will help to determine true rifle / scope errors as opposed to everything is wrong so I am going to take everything apart and blame that type bad day

I don't agree with all of Nathan's theories. Also factory rifles I tried/tested/used in the last years were actually quite good accuracy wise but could all be improved by fitting/bedding a higher quality stock. Shot like a benchrest rifle with consistent hold even factory plastic stocked rifles could produce sub MOA groups, but POI changed with different holds. I only tested a limited amount of rifles in the last years which included Sako, Remington, Tikka, Howa, Savage, CZ, Ruger and a few more. All were capable of sub MOA without metal work but some needed stock work, all benefitted from stock changes bedding.
Like the way they criticize Euro rifles...rightly so. If you think of it, just about every rifle shooter knows the theory/reason benefits of behind bedding a rifle with epoxy. How many rifle manufacturers actually take this step? Using ~15 grams of proper epoxy on a rifle is avoided like the pest by almost all rifle manufacturers. Nathan is for this reason right if he say's most rifles on the shelf are not accurate. At least not accurate under field conditions.
One point I do not agree with Nathan about is his theory of holding a forend when shooting and the benefits. It might be true with the hunting rifles that they are using but that is mostly old technology. All the rifles he is showing in this conjunction are rifles with a low centre of gravity meaning very prone to rotation upon recoil which will affect "launch angle", and yes with these rifles it is a benefit. We tend to use larger, heavier and higher mounted scopes in Europe which change the recoil behaviour of a rifle alone. Combine this with ultra lightweight stocks and one can easily have the rifles vertical COG on the centre bore which leads to a completely neutral recoil behaviour. No need to hold the forend anymore. Or better said the rifle will shoot to the same point no matter how you hold the rifle....now that is what we would all want from any rifle. Quite a few sniper rifles have that feature too but mostly unintentionally.

The only part of the article I agreed with is that "accuracy" is defined by the distances and the size of the target. I find most factory rifles will provide accuracy that outstrips the capabilities of their owners.~Muir

And another bone tto pick: He seems to indicate that two different powders loaded to like pressures will give similar results. So imagine substituting X grains of 4831 @ 60K PSI or a charge of H4350 that delivers the same pressure, for Y grains of Red Dot Shotgun Powder @ 60K. Imagine the results.~Muir